BY RAYMOND AFRICA and ASHZEL HACHERO
HAVING been told that she cannot hide forever, suspended Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo is contemplating the possibility of attending the next scheduled Senate hearing on the ills plaguing the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) industry.
Stephen David, Guo’s legal counsel, said he talked to Guo last Sunday and advised her to honor the legal process and attend the next hearing on July 29.
The Bureau of Immigration, meanwhile, allayed fears that Guo has fled the country, with BI spokesperson Sana Krizia Sandoval saying: “She has no recent recorded travel.”
But Sandoval declined to provide additional details, citing the data privacy laws.
Senate deputy minority leader Risa Hontiveros, in a virtual press conference, said unseen forces may be aiding Guo so she cannot be arrested.
She said Guo cannot leave the country since the warrant of arrest issued by the Senate comes with a Hold Departure Order (HDO).
She said the committee is firm in its position that all resource persons should attend the hearings in person, adding that Guo has not sent surrender feelers.
David said he told Guo that the issuance of an arrest warrant against her was not “surprising” since the order was meant to compel her to attend the hearing.
“Na-explain ko namang mabuti sa kanya ‘yung failure niya to appear sa Senate process will eventually result into (a) warrant of arrest (I clearly explained that her failure to appear in the Senate process will eventually result (to the issuance) of a warrant of arrest),” David said.
David said Guo appears to have a “50-50” decision on attending the next scheduled hearing.
“The reason why the Senate committee wants her to appear is because they want her to talk [as a resource person]. So, that will lift the warrant [of arrest]. That’s it, although I cannot influence her decision, [she has reasons not to attend] since she was traumatized, she was threatened. I can only give her legal advice,” he added.
David said Guo wants to attend the hearings but fears for her safety.
“Sabi ko kung sa Senate lang naman ‘yan, gagarantiyahan ko naman ang safety doon. Mas safe ka pa nga diyan kung tutuusin (I told her that I can guarantee her safety in the Senate. I said she is safer in the Senate [that any other place]),” he added.
Senate President Francis Escudero yesterday said he would guarantee the safety of Guo and the other resource persons once they are detained in the Senate.
Escudero said that Guo and the rest could be detained at the PNP station inside the Senate compound if they were arrested.
He said the PNP facility is airconditioned and should be a perfect detention site for Guo and the rest since the police will serve as their guards.
Escudero said he has ordered the Office of the Senate Sergeant-At-Arms to review the guidelines for detaining resource persons since he sees no reason why detainees should not be allowed to have their electronic gadgets while detained.
“I see no reason why we should not allow them [to have gadgets]. They are not drug lords who can continue with their trade while in detention. Second, I don’t see a dangerous incident where they can escape from detention. So, I ordered a review, we will find out,” Escudero said.
He said the detention of Guo is not a punishment but rather an assurance that she will attend the Senate probe.
The Senate has issued warrants of arrest against Guo, her siblings —Shiela, Sieman, and Wesley; father Jian Zhong Guo; suspected mother Lin Wen Yi; Nancy Gamo, the family’s accountant; and Dennis Cunanan, a former Technology and Livelihood Resource Center director who has been slapped a 26-year jail term for his involvement in the pork barrel scam.
The Office of the Senate Sergeant-At-Arms has dispatched its personnel to arrest Guo and the rest but only Gamo was arrested last Saturday. The others were not in their known addresses.
Lawyer Iryl Boco said Cunanan, who is their client, is willing to attend the next hearing on July 29 but has yet to receive a copy of the arrest warrant.
Boco said they have no idea if Cunanan would voluntarily give himself up and have himself detained at the Senate before the next hearing.
Senate president pro tempore Jinggoy Estrada said government agencies that have police powers should step up the hunt for Guo, adding the mayor and the rest should surrender “unless they have left the country.”
Hontiveros said the warrants of arrest issued against Guo and the rest are not merely “procedural” and “uphold the mandate of the Senate to safeguard the well-being of Filipinos.”
She called on Guo to surrender, saying: “Mayor Alice Guo or Guo Hua Ping, if you are able to go online on Facebook, maybe you can also appear in the Senate. You even used Facebook to spread lies that you are a Filipino. You are not a Filipino since there is strong evidence already presented.”
GUO’S TIES
Hontiveros said that investigations conducted by the Anti-Money Laundering Council showed that Baofu Land Development Inc., where Guo has interests, has direct connections with Yu Zheng Can, an incorporator of Hong Sheng Gaming Technology Inc., the operator of the POGO hub raided in Bamban, Tarlac in February 2023, and Hongjiang Yang, who she said is the brother of Michael Yang, the economic adviser of former President Duterte.
“In short, the money of Michael Yang’s brother was used to fund Hong Sheng, the raided Bamban POGO.”
She said Hongjiang is an incorporator of the Full Win Group of Companies, where Gerald Cruz is an incorporator of Pharmally Biological. She said Cruz is the same individual who is an incorporator of the Brickhartz POGO hub whose documents were found in the Bamban POGO facility.
“Sabi ko nga, mukhang one big, happy Pharmally pala itong mga POGO at Pharmally members…Our Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations, and Gender Equality will continue to dig deeper. Hindi po kami hihinto hanggat matunton at maputol ang mga ugat ng POGO (As I have said, it seems that these POGOs and Pharammly are one big, happy Pharmally…Our Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations, and Gender Equality will continue to dig deep until we identify the people in these illegal POGOs and cut their roots),” She added.
David, in a television interview yesterday, said he talked with Guo yesterday “though I don’t know where she is. But I can say 100 percent she is in the Philippines. That was what she told me.”
David said Guo is the subject of an immigration lookout bulletin order issued by the Department of Justice to the Bureau of Immigration, adding authorities have also tightened their monitoring in the country’s airports and seaports because of the issuance.
The ILBO differs from a precautionary hold departure order since it is for monitoring purposes only and is not a sufficient prohibition to bar someone from leaving the country.
Only the courts can issue a PHDO.
The Senate is investigating Guo’s alleged links to an illegal POGO facility in Bamban raided by the authorities last March.
She has been unmasked as a Chinese masquerading as a Filipino by the National Bureau of Investigation.
Charges of human trafficking have been lodged against her before the DOJ while the Office of the Solicitor General had asked a Tarlac court to nullify her certificate of live birth.
Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra said this is aside from the quo warranto petition they will file against the suspended mayor soon.
PANELO’S TAKE
Former chief presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo said Hontiveros is bent on “maligning the character” and “tarnishing the image” of former President Rodrigo Duterte to get media mileage and increase her name recall in anticipation of a possible run for higher office in the future.
Panelo said Hontiveros “is desperately bent on connecting the former President to the controversial pharmacy anomaly which is under investigation in the Office of the Ombudsman” when there is “absolutely” no factual and legal basis to link Duterte to any corrupt practice.
He said the former President has never been involved in any form of corruption and is in fact known as a “fierce and unforgiving nemesis of grafters and enemies of the state.”
“Her (Hontiveros) obsession to tarnish the reputation of PRRD is insatiable,” he said, adding the senator is using her position as senator and chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations, and Gender Equality to try persons by publicity and without due process.
He said this is what is happening to Pastor Apollo Quiboloy and Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo, “who have become victims of her injustice.”
“She has been abusing this right given to Congress. Her apparent intention is to malign the character of PRRD and at the same time, she wants to be politically relevant and preparing to run for a higher office. She always wants to be in the public eye for the name recall and media mileage,” Panelo said.
He said Hontiveros should just focus on introducing legislative bills that will address the basic problems of the country like poverty, lack of education, and issues on health, public works, agriculture, trade and the like “instead of nauseous grandstanding.” — With Jocelyn Montemayor
